Method and apparatus for controlling a waste outlet of a toilet

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for controlling the waste outlet of a toilet includes, according to an implementation, a motor comprising a Hall effect sensor that detects the rotation of the motor and generates a position signal in response thereto; a mechanical actuator coupled to the motor; a door coupled to the mechanical actuator, wherein the door is disposed at the waste outlet of the toilet; logic circuitry that receives the position signal, generates a control signal to move the door based at least in part on the position signal, and transmits the control signal to the motor. The motor operates according to the control signal to drive the mechanical actuator to move the door.

CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/084,078, filed Mar. 29, 2016, which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/140,260, filed on Mar. 30, 2015, both ofwhich are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure is relates generally to toilets and, moreparticularly, a method and apparatus for controlling a waste outlet of atoilet.

BACKGROUND

Designing a toilet for an aircraft poses challenges that do notgenerally occur in ground-based toilet designs. For example, in anaircraft, space and weight are at a premium, and using regularwater-flush toilets is not practical. Also, treating malfunctions suchas clogs is much more difficult, since space restrictions make access toplumbing nearly impossible.

DRAWINGS

While the appended claims set forth the features of the presenttechniques with particularity, these techniques may be best understoodfrom the following detailed description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a toilet configured according to anembodiment.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of a motor according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a cutaway view of mechanical coupling between the lever, themotor, and the waste outlet door of a toilet system, according to anembodiment.

FIGS. 4A, 4B, and 4C are back side elevation views of the toilet of FIG.1, with the waste pipe removed, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram depicting logic circuitry that may be used inan embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram depicted a process that may be carried out inan embodiment.

FIGS. 7A, 7B, 7C, and 8 are back views of the toilet of FIG. 1 showingparticular features, according to an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following discussion is directed to various exemplary embodiments.However, one possessing ordinary skill in the art will understand thatthe examples disclosed herein have broad application, and that thediscussion of any embodiment is meant only be exemplary of thatembodiment, and not intended to suggest that the scope of thedisclosure, including claims, is limited to that embodiment.

Certain terms are used throughout the following description to refer toparticular features or components. As one skilled in the art willappreciate, different persons may refer to the same feature or componentby different names. This document does not intend to distinguish betweencomponents or features that differ in name but not function. The drawingfigures are not necessarily to scale. Certain features and componentsherein may be shown exaggerated in scale or in somewhat schematic formand some details of conventional elements may not be shown in interestof clarity and conciseness.

The disclosure is generally directed to a method and apparatus forcontrolling a waste outlet of a toilet. According to an embodiment, theapparatus includes a motor having a Hall effect sensor that detects therotation of the motor and generates a position signal in responsethereto; a mechanical actuator coupled to the motor; a door coupled tothe mechanical actuator, wherein the door is disposed at the wasteoutlet; logic circuitry that receives the position signal, generates acontrol signal to move the door based at least in part on the positionsignal, and transmits the control signal to the motor. The motoroperates according to the control signal to drive the mechanicalactuator to move the door.

In an embodiment, the method includes transmitting a control signal tothe logic circuitry of a motor of a toilet to move the motor to a zeroposition; receiving a position signal from the motor; determining, basedat least in part on the position signal, how much the motor needs to beoperated in order to move a door at a waste outlet of the toilet to anappropriate position; and transmitting a control signal to the motor tocause the motor to drive the mechanical actuator to move the door to theappropriate position.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus includes a lever; a mechanicalactuator coupled to the lever; a door coupled to the mechanicalactuator, wherein the door is disposed at the waste outlet of thetoilet; and a lanyard having a first end that is coupled to the lever,wherein the lanyard is manually accessible. When the lanyard is pulled,the lever moves so as to move the mechanical actuator to move the door.

The term “logic circuitry” as used herein means a circuit (a type ofelectronic hardware) designed to perform complex functions defined interms of mathematical logic. Examples of logic circuitry include amicroprocessor, a controller, an application-specific integratedcircuit, and a field-programmable gate array.

Turning to FIG. 1, a toilet configured according to an embodiment isshown. The toilet, generally labelled 100, is configured to be deployedon an aircraft, and may be housed within an external housing (notshown). The toilet 100 includes a bowl 102 attached to a frame 104. Thetoilet 100 also includes a waste pipe 106 attached at the waste outlet(shown in FIG. 3) of the bowl 102 and a motor 108 attached to the frame104. The motor 108 drives a mechanical actuator to open or close a doorto the waste outlet (shown in further detail in FIGS. 4A-4C). A housing110 is attached to the frame 104 and contains the mechanical actuator. Alever 112 is coupled to (e.g., attached to) the mechanical actuator. Alanyard 114 has a first end 114 a that is coupled to the lever 112 and asecond end 114 b that may hang free or may be attached to a portion ofthe frame 104. As will be described below in further detail, the lever112 and lanyard 114 allow the door to the waste outlet to be closedmanually.

The toilet 100 further includes a control box 118 attached to the frame104. The control box 118 contains logic circuitry that controls theoperation of the toilet 100. Although depicted on the back left side ofthe frame 104, the control box 118 may be attached to the frame 104 atother locations, such as the back right side (e.g., location 119). Acable 116 is attached to the control box 118 and to the motor 108. Thecable 116 provides a transmission medium for electrical signals totravel from the control box 118 to the motor 108 (e.g., power and data)and for electrical signals to travel from the motor 108 to the controlbox 118 (e.g., data). For example, the logic circuitry in the controlbox 118 can transmit control signals to the motor 108 by way of thecable 116, and the motor 108 can transmit position signals to the logiccircuitry by way of the cable 116. During operation, the door to thewaste outlet is normally closed. When the logic circuitry in the controlbox 118 receives an activation signal (e.g., a signal generated by a“flush” button on the toilet 100), the logic circuitry sends a controlsignal to the motor 108 to open the door to the waste outlet. A pressuredifference between the air in the waste pipe 106 and the air around theoutside of the toilet 100 creates a suction at the waste outlet, whichdraws the waste from inside the bowl 102 out of the waste outlet andinto the waste pipe 106. After a predetermined period of time, the motor108 drives the mechanical actuator to close the door.

Turning to FIG. 2, in an embodiment, the motor 108 includes a casing202, a shaft 204, rotor 206, a stator 208, and one or more Hall sensors210. During operation, windings within the stator 208 receive electricalcurrent (e.g., via the cable 116) and generate an electromagnetic fieldthat interacts with the electromagnetic field of one or more permanentmagnets 207 on the rotor 206, thereby causing the rotor 206 (and,consequently, the shaft 204) to rotate. As the rotor 206 rotates, theHall sensors 210 detect the movement of the magnets 207 and generatesignals in response to the movement. Logic circuitry of the motor 108receives the signals from the Hall sensors 210 and generates a positionsignal in response thereto. The logic circuitry of the motor 108transmits the position signal to the logic circuitry of the toilet 100.In an embodiment, the motor 108 is a brushless direct current motor.

Turning to FIG. 3, in an embodiment, a door 302 is disposed a slot 304of the housing 110. The door 302 is coupled to a first mechanicalactuator 306 that pivots about a pivot point 310. The mechanicalactuator 306 in this example is a first gear (e.g., part of a planetarygear). The first mechanical actuator 306 is attached to the shaft 204 ofthe motor 108 at the pivot point 310, such that when the shaft 204rotates (e.g., as the rotor 206 rotates), the first mechanical actuator306 moves in the direction of arrow A. The lever 112 is attached to thefirst mechanical actuator 306 such that when the first mechanicalactuator 306 moves in the direction of arrow A, the lever 112 moves inthe direction of arrow B. Thus, the lever 112 is coupled to the motor108 via the first mechanical actuator 306. The door 302 is attached to asecond mechanical actuator 308 (a second gear in this example) that iscoupled to the first mechanical actuator 306. The first mechanicalactuator 306 is thus coupled to the door 302 via the second mechanicalactuator 308 such that movement of the first mechanical actuator 306causes corresponding movement of the second mechanical actuator 308 inthe direction of arrow C, which moves the door 302 in the direction ofarrow D between a fully closed position (as shown in FIG. 4A) in whichthe door 302 fully blocks the waste outlet 312 of the bowl 102, apartially open (or partially closed) position (as shown in FIG. 4B) inwhich the door 302 partially blocks the waste outlet 312, and a fullyopen position (as shown in FIG. 4C) in which the door 302 is fullywithdrawn into the slot 304 and does not block the waste outlet 312 atall. The second mechanical actuator 308 pivots about a pivot point 311.

According to an embodiment, the lanyard 114 is positioned such it ismanually accessible (i.e., can be accessed by hand by a flight crewmember during airborne operation, possibly by opening a cover thatsurrounds the toilet 100). When the lanyard 114 is pulled in thedirection of arrow E, the first end 114 a pulls the lever 112 in thedirection of B, which produces torque on the first mechanical actuator306 in the direction indicated by arrow A. The first mechanical actuator306 responds by pivoting at pivot point 310, thereby causing (e.g., byway of the second mechanical actuator 308) the door 302 to move in thedirection of arrow D toward a fully closed position. Put another way,the first mechanical actuator 306 and the second mechanical actuator 308cooperate to transmit motion from the lever 112 to the door 302.

Turning to FIG. 5, in an embodiment, the control box 118 includes logiccircuitry 502 that generally controls the operation of the toilet 100,and the motor 108 includes logic circuitry 504 that controls theoperation of the motor 108. The logic circuitry 502 communicates withlogic circuitry 504 of the motor 108. In an embodiment, when the logiccircuitry 502 of the toilet 100 carries out a start-up operation (e.g.,upon power-up of the toilet 100), the logic circuitry 502 transmits, tothe logic circuitry 504 of the motor 108, a command to put the motor 108in a zero position. In order to reach the zero position, the logiccircuitry 504 causes the rotor 206 to rotate in the appropriatedirection and for the appropriate number of revolutions in order to movethe door 302 to a predetermined position, such as fully open or fullyclosed.

Turning to FIG. 6, an example of a process carried out by the logiccircuitry 502 of the toilet 100 according to an embodiment will now bedescribed. At block 602, the logic circuitry 502 transmits a controlsignal to the logic circuitry 504 of the motor 108 to move to a zeroposition. In response, the motor 108 moves the rotor 206 the appropriatedirection and the appropriate number of revolutions to reach the zeroposition. At some point during further operation of the motor 108, oneor more of the Hall effect sensors 210 measure the position of the rotor206 and report the position to the logic circuitry 504 of the motor 108.The logic circuitry 504 generates a control signal based on the reportedposition. At block 604, the logic circuitry 502 of the toilet 100receives a position signal from the logic circuitry 504 of the motor108. At block 606, the logic circuitry 502 determines, based at least inpart on the position signal, whether and how much the motor 108 needs tobe operated in order to move the door 302 to the appropriate position.At block 608, the logic circuitry 502 of the toilet 100 transmits acontrol signal to the logic circuitry 504 of the motor 108 to cause themotor 108 to actuate the first mechanical actuator 306 to move the door302 to the appropriate position.

Turning to FIG. 7A (in which the lanyard 114 has been omitted forpurposes of showing other features more clearly), the lever 112 can bepulled in the direction of arrow B in order to close the door 302,thereby allowing for manual operation.

Turning to FIG. 7B and FIG. 7C, according to an embodiment, a bushing702 is attached to the distal end of the lever 112. The bushing 702 hasa hole through which the lanyard 114 passes. Attached the first end 114a of the lanyard 114 is a stopper 704 (in the form of, for example, acap) that does not fit through the hole, such that when the lever 112moves in the direction of arrow B and the stopper 704 reaches thebushing 702, the stopper 704 catches on the bushing 702 at the hole,thereby allowing the lanyard 114 to pull on the lever 112 (via thestopper 704). In an embodiment, the lanyard 114 is sufficiently stiff soas to generally maintain its orientation as the bushing 702 moves alongit. The lanyard 114 may be implemented as a cable made of twisted metalstrands. A portion of the lanyard 114 is enclosed by a cover 706 madeof, for example, a layer of rubber or plastic, which may be relativelyrigid, but through which the lanyard 114 can slide. During normaloperation, the bushing 702 slips over the lanyard 114 (i.e., the lanyard114 passes through the hole in the bushing 702), thereby allowing thelever 112 and corresponding mechanical actuators to move free ofsignificant burden. In various embodiments, this feature may allow thedoor 302 to be opened and closed without the need for a clutch, whilestill allowing for manual closure of the door 302 when necessary or whenthe motor 108 is inoperable (e.g., due to failure or loss of power). Asshown in FIG. 8, in an embodiment, the second end 114 b of the lanyard114 is accessible from the front of the frame 104 and may be attachedthereto.

For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of thedisclosure, reference has been made to the embodiments illustrated inthe drawings, and specific language has been used to describe theseembodiments. However, no limitation of the scope of the disclosure isintended by this specific language, and the disclosure should beconstrued to encompass all embodiments that would normally occur to oneof ordinary skill in the art.

The particular implementations shown and described herein areillustrative examples and are not intended to otherwise limit the scopeof the disclosure in any way. For the sake of brevity, conventionalelectronics, control systems, software development and other functionalaspects of the systems (and components of the individual operatingcomponents of the systems) may not be described in detail.

The steps of all methods described herein are performable in anysuitable order unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearlycontradicted by context. The use of any and all examples, or exemplarylanguage (e.g., “such as”) provided herein, is intended merely to betterilluminate the disclosure and does not pose a limitation on scope unlessotherwise claimed. Numerous modifications and adaptations will bereadily apparent to those skilled in this art without departing from thespirit and scope of the disclosure.

It will also be recognized that the terms “comprises,” “comprising,”“includes,” “including,” “has,” and “having,” as used herein, arespecifically intended to be read as open-ended terms of art. The use ofthe terms “a” and “an” and “the” and similar referents in the context ofdescribing the invention (especially in the context of the followingclaims) are to be construed to cover both the singular and the plural,unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. In addition, it shouldbe understood that although the terms “first,” “second,” etc. may beused herein to describe various elements, these elements should not belimited by these terms, which are only used to distinguish one elementfrom another.

We claim:
 1. A method for controlling a waste outlet of a toilet, thetoilet comprising a motor, a mechanical actuator coupled to the motor,and a door coupled to the mechanical actuator, the method comprising:transmitting a control signal to a first logic circuitry of the motor tomove the motor to a zero position; detecting, by a Hall effect sensor ofthe motor, rotation of the motor; generating, by the first logiccircuitry of the motor, a position signal in response to the detectedrotation; receiving, by a second logic circuitry, the position signalfrom the motor; determining, by the second logic circuitry based atleast in part on the position signal, how much the motor needs to beopened in order to move the door to an appropriate position within thewaste outlet; and transmitting, by the second logic circuitry, a controlsignal to the motor to cause the motor to actuate the mechanicalactuator to move the door to the appropriate position.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the appropriate position is a fully open position, themethod further comprising: receiving an activation signal from a flushmechanism of the toilet; and transmitting the control signal in responseto the activation signal.
 3. An apparatus for controlling a waste outletof a toilet, the apparatus comprising: a lever; a mechanical actuatorcoupled to the lever; a door coupled to the mechanical actuator, whereinthe door is disposed within the waste outlet of the toilet; a lanyardthat is coupled to the lever, wherein the lanyard is manuallyaccessible, wherein when the lanyard is pulled, the lever moves so as tomove the mechanical actuator to move the door.
 4. The apparatus of claim3, further comprising a frame to which the mechanical actuator isattached, wherein an end of the lanyard is attached to the frame.
 5. Theapparatus of claim 3, wherein the mechanical actuator closes the door.6. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the mechanical actuator is a firstmechanical actuator, the apparatus comprising a second mechanicalactuator that is attached to the door, wherein the first and secondmechanical actuators cooperate to transmit motion from the lever to thedoor.
 7. The apparatus of claim 3, further comprising a bushing attachedto the lever, wherein the bushing has a hole through which the lanyardpasses.
 8. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising a motor, whereinthe lever is coupled to the motor such that when the motor impartstorque on the lever, the lever moves and the bushing slides over thelanyard.
 9. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising a stopperattached to an end of the lanyard, wherein the stopper does not fitthrough the hole, such that when the lanyard is pulled, the lanyardslides through the hole of the bushing until the stopper catches on thebushing at the hole.
 10. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the lanyardincludes a cable made of twisted metal strands.
 11. The apparatus ofclaim 3, comprising a cover that encloses a portion of the lanyard. 12.The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the cover is made of rubber orplastic.
 13. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the mechanical actuatoris a first mechanical actuator, the apparatus comprising a secondmechanical actuator that is attached to the door and coupled with thefirst mechanical actuator, and the lanyard is attached to an end of thefirst mechanical actuator opposite the second mechanical actuator. 14.The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the lanyard includes a first endattached to the lever and a second end accessible from a front of aframe of the apparatus.